MY DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Antelope Canyon
antelope 2

 

Ever since I bought my first digital camera in 2000 (a Canon Powershot G1) I have become an enthusiast of photography. Travelling to conferences provides an excellent opportunity for taking a diverse range of photos. These photos leave me with lasting memories about the places I had visited. I remember vividly the excitement of my trips to Tibet and Banff each time I look at the photos taken there.

One of the advantages of being an amateur instead of a professional photographer is that I don't have to worry too much about whether my photos have perfect composition and lighting (as you'll see from my photo galleries, they are often not). My philosophy is that if you take a million pictures, some of them will be pretty good whether you are a professional photographer or someone who has never previously taken a single picture. Fortunately my rate of success is a little higher than one in a million. smile

Crete beach

crete

Landscape photography is my favorite, and the feeling of returning to nature and seeing its beauty perhaps have a lot to do with it. Some of the most beautiful natural sceneries in the world that I had visited are the Canadian Rockies (Banff and Jasper, as well as some parks on the eastern side of British Columbia), Mt. Huangshan (the Yellow Mountain) of China, southwestern USA (particularly Utah and Arizona), and southwestern part of China. One of the most incredible places I had visited is the Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona. The background photo of my homepage was taken there. In retropsect, the beauty of many of these places are so over-powering that photography was really secondary when I was there. It was only later viewing those photos that I realized how important photography is in preserving these wonderful memories.

Link to My Landscape Photos

Other types of photography appeal to me as well. I like to photograph people, events, places and flowers. One area I wish I can do better is macro photography. I'm always fascinated by these incredible close-up photos of flowers and insects, and wish I can do them.

Link to My Travel Photos

Monument Valley
monument valley
Daniel (right) and Justin (left) 1 month old
twins expression

With the adminsitrative duty and the birth of our twins Daniel and Justin on Nov. 6, 2009 I had drastically scaled back my regular photography as it is no longer convenient for us to travel. On the other hand, I have ample opportunities to sharpen my skill for photographing babies! As it turns out, photographying babies are not as easy as one might think, if you want to capture spontaneous moments while keeping your photos clean. It is hard work for me, but very much worth every minutes I had put in.

One rewarding aspect of photography for me is to develop friendship with other mathematicians and colleagues who share the same interest. Perhaps the best photographer among current mathematicians is Bob Moody (of the Kac-Moody algebra). One of the great gentlemen among mathematicians, Bob and I had met through research in the mathematics of quasicrystals. We became good friends in large part because of our mutual interest in photography. Of course, his skill, vision and particularly his passion for it put me to shame in a way. Some of his large format black and write photos might even be mistaken for an Ansel Adams. Victor Sirvent is another mathematician who is an outstanding photographer whose photography has greatly inspired my interest. My MSU colleague Zackary Huang is another excellent photographer whose photography of bees is as impressive as his world-class research on them.

Justin 5 months (left) and Daniel 6 months (right)
justin daniel 6 months

Link to Daniel and Justin Photos

 

Jasper National Park (left) and Victoria, Canada (right)
boat butterfly

 

Atlanta Botanic Garden (left) and MSU Horticulture Gardens (right)
plant bee

 

Imminent Storms in Colorado (left) and New Mexico (right)
storm storm-nm

Hirshhorn Museum of DC (left) and Drift Wood at Jeykell Island, GA (right)
hirschorn tree

 

Hong Village in Anhui, China
hongchun

 

Link to All of My Photo Galleries

 

Return to Yang Wang's Homepage

(Last updated: June 7, 2010)